Drunkle Seagull
by FeugoFox42
Summary: When Jacques Schnee has had enough of his daughters, he goes to drastic measures to ensure their complience. Story based heavily on TFS DBZ Abridged Episode 36, but the RWBY version. One-Shot, with mentions of Snowbird, Freezerburn and Catmeleon.


Image Source: www ( **dot** ) pinterest ( **dot** ) co ( **dot** ) uk / pin / 447897125415007565/  
Credit to the original artist

* * *

 **DISCLAIMER!  
** _*Yes, I'm doing one of these. But I need to, especially considering what I'm writing.*_

 **PART OF THIS STORY TAKES MASSIVELY HEAVY INFLUENCE FROM TEAMFOURSTAR'S "DRAGONBALL Z ABRIDGED EPISODE 36: "Super Saiyan Swagger""**

 **THIS IS IN NO WAY, SHAPE OR FORM MEANT TO BE AN 'ORIGINAL IDEA'; IT'S A CRACK STORY THROUGH AND THROUGH**

 **DBZA IS OWNED BY TEAMFOURSTAR, AND THE PREMISE IS** ** _HEAVILY_** **BASED ON THEIR OWN WORK.**

 **WHILST THIS IS A RWBY STORY, THERE ARE HEAVY DRAGONBALL Z INFLUENCES IN HERE, AND A COUPLE OF CHARACTER NAME DROPS TOO. HOWEVER, I DON'T FEEL LIKE THERE'S ENOUGH TO CONSIDER IT A CROSSOVER**

* * *

This One Shot takes place after Volume 5, with no knowledge of Volume 6. Slight spoilers for Volume 5 and all previous RWBY Volumes.

* * *

Jacques Schnee was a man on a mission. This was insubordination of the highest degree. Weiss had been given strict instructions to come downstairs at least once a week to join himself, his youngest and - if she felt so inclined to remove herself from the garden and the bottle that seemingly kept her there (not that the man minded her absence, he detested the smell of wine ever since Willow had done nothing but surround and fill herself with the stuff) - her mother for dinner at the table in the main dining hall.

He somewhat believed Klein when he mentioned how Weiss wouldn't be able to come down to dinner the first week due to her contracting an illness from Dust overexposure, something the current SDC President actually laughed at on hearing.

"Her childish dream of becoming a Huntress finally caught up to her."

"I fail to understand, sir," Klein offered in the defence of his favourite young Schnee.

"When she returned from that circus of a school in Vale, I took her weapon away from her, if you recall." The butler said nothing, did nothing. He couldn't, as much as he wanted to. It would be improper for him to do so. But of course he knew, he was the one who went to take Weiss up a cup of coffee that morning only to see her thrashing about her room in a desperate attempt to find her missing weapon, crying in part from sadness as she did so.

The other part of her tears that weren't sadness were instead pure rage at the fact her father took away what he promised was the one thing that would remain hers. She realised that even that statement was another bold faced lie to add to the insurmountable list she was compiling in her mind.

"When I took it away, I had someone take a look at it," and by that, he means 'had them deliberately create a small, flaw in her weapon', "and it turns out that due to improper use she had done some nasty work to one of her mechanisms and had splintered one of her chambers' inner walls, meaning any Dust canister she slid in there would get a little nick in it and start leaking its contents very slowly. Such slow contact with Dust at skin level could bring along such an illness, and it would be her own fault for not checking and maintaining her weapon often."

Klein immediately knew that Jacques was talking a load of rubbish. Weiss kept her weapon meticulously clean, and always kept it as sharp and ready for battle as the day she was given it. Something as small as a chink in one of the cylinders would have immediately thrown up red flags for her, and she would have been down with the smiths fixing it as soon as she physically could. In fact, he recalled her doing just that not a day after she had been granted her weapon back. But seeing as how the man told the story with such confidence, Klein went along with his story, for ease if nothing else.

But when the second week rolled around, the scepticism that had been building in the controlling man's mind ever since had reached a breaking point, and he stormed up to her room immediately.

Weaving in and out of corridors, the maze of a mansion provided just enough of an irritation to rile Jacques up even more as he finally reached his daughter's room.

Slamming his fist against the mahogany door, he shouted, "Weiss! Weiss open your door this instant!" No reply, obviously. Weiss, unbeknownst to everybody but Klein, had left to try and find her sister nine days ago, giving Jacques plenty of ammunition for his anger. "Young lady, if you do not open this door now, I will kick it down and drag you to the dining table myself!" Still nothing. His face now matched his handkerchief, now fuming a bright scarlet colour. "That does it," the man bellowed, temper truly tipping over, "I'm coming in!"

What greeted him was an empty room, void of any signs of being lived in for over a week.

To the untrained eye, you couldn't tell the difference between a room like this and the room next door, one that had no one living in it for nearly seven months now, what with how everything was laid out and tidied in there. But if Weiss was supposed to have been in here recovering from a Dust-related illness, then why doesn't the bed look slept in, or her night clothes look like they'd been worn. Similarly, why were two of her outfits missing, despite there being no need to carry anything anywhere in the house.

Unless she wasn't in the house. And hadn't been / wouldn't be for a long time.

And that was when the penny finally dropped.

Klein practically feared for his life when he saw Jacques storming down the hallway from Weiss' room. He knew what he'd done, and now the patriarch of the family probably did to. There was no shouting on the Schnee's behalf though. There was no explosion of anger like there had been at him or other staff, or even his own family, before. There was just that stare. A stare from a man so unbelievably enraged that he couldn't even form the words to express how angry he was. A stare that told the man with multiple personalities that he _knew_ what he had done, and that once he had done what he had needed to do, he would not be safe in this house anymore.

Normally, Klein's multiple personalities had differing opinions on certain matters, with the Schnee patriarch being the most discussed and with the widest array of thoughts and feelings about him. But all seven of Klein's personalities came together in one moment to agree on one thing; they did not want to be here when Jacques passed back into the realms of anger that let him express his rage with words once more.

Well, six of them did. Sleepy was too tired to care.

Jacques stormed his way through the house and down to the tunnels beneath the mansion. With a position like his and a bounty on his head from the White Fang because of it, there were a multitude of various different secret entrances and exits for him (and others, he supposed) to use to escape unseen. These were some of those secrets, with the entrance to this one being located in its own little panic room just off from his main office in the mansion.

These particular tunnels had small monorail tracks running down them, powered by their own little Dust motors rather than relying on an external power source, so that they could still run even if power was cut for the rest of the building above. And the rails he was current on led right to the SDC R&D Department.

One scientist was about to greet the Schnee as he exited from the pod, but the look of rage on the harsh-even-when-in-a-good-mood man's face made him reconsider instantaneously.

Marching through the sub-level labs, many of those working there avoided Jacques like he was an enraged Goliath. With the destructive glint in his eye, he might as well have been. He did eventually get to where he needed to go, throwing the doors to the lab wide open, body still coursing with anger.

"Doctor Rota!" he cried, catching the man's attention. Doctor Rota was probably the rarest of rare cases among rare cases. Doctor Rota was a Faunus, a diminutive Warthog Faunus at that with noticeable and sizeable tusks on his lower jaw. Not only that, but the Doctor suffered from Mal Bilinbey Syndrome - literally translating to 'Animal Morph Syndrome' - that caused his already prominent Faunus features to be accentuated, and for other features, such as a snout and a tail, plus a red pigment to his skin (although that had nothing to do with his condition nor his Faunus attributes, he was just born like that anyway). But the fact that a Faunus, one who appeared more animal than any other Faunus around by a long margin, was working for the Schnee Dust Company, was on a named basis with Jacques Schnee _and_ was being so high up on the payroll - higher than any other openly Faunus workers by a good couple of ladders, not just rungs - was more than enough cause for anyone to be excited with progress in the SDC.

Sadly, the reason Doctor Rota held such a high position was because he could do things many others wouldn't dream, all for the right price. And there was no one more willing than Jacques Schnee to pay that price. Sure, the Faunus part irked at first, but if that is all that stood between not getting something he needed and getting it, it was a sacrifice the President of the Company would have to overlook.

"Ah, Jacques Schnee. To what do I owe the pleasure of your presence?"

"How is the progress on the machine going?" he asked, cutting straight to the point. The Doctor peered at the man over his yellow tinted glasses that sat near the end of his snout.

"Rather well, I would think. We just need to work on getting the more sentient side of her functional."

"How long will that take?" the man inquired, irritation from before seeping into his voice. Rota looked at his with mild concern before stating,

"A couple of months, best case scenario. Artificial Intelligence is tricky business, and programming everything in to make her compliant, yet free-willed, is no easy task in and of itself, especially considering that we also have to factor in the replication, or artificial representation, of Aura."

As evident by the dissatisfaction on his face, Jacques did not like that answer. "What is the most challenging part?"

"The free will, of course. Creating a being that has its own personality and being is tough, especially when fail-safes have to be implemented as well to stop it from going rogue on us all."

"Then I want that gone," the businessman concluded. "Forget the free-will, I want it responding only to my commands. I cannot have this thing growing a spine and questioning its actions." His arms crossed expectedly. "How long will it take _now?_ "

Doctor Rota smiled. "Weeks to finish, another week to get it ready for rudimentary use."

Jacques grinned back, a malicious glint in his cold eyes. "Perfect." He stared at the head of the creation, hoping that this machine will bring exactly what he needed.

* * *

 **{- MONTHS LATER -}**

When Winter was sent by General Ironwood with a team to be there for the arrival of a ship inbound from Mistral, she was expecting to be apprehending smugglers and taking them into custody for unauthorised entry into Atlas under a border lock down. What she wasn't expecting was to see her sister as the rear ramp lowered.

"Wha… Weiss?" the shocked Specialist finally managed to mumble out after staring at her sister for a few seconds to let her brain catch up. Said little sister didn't wait that long though, as she came hurtling down the ramp, even in the shoes she typically wears, and threw herself at Winter.

"I was so worried about you!" the ex-Heiress told her sister. "I ran away and went to Mistral to try and find you, but you weren't there and that made me panic and-"

"Weiss take it easy," came a soft voice from behind. Releasing the hug on her sister, Weiss turned to see Yang approaching the pair, the rest of Team RWBY joining them as well. Winter cast a wary eye over the person approaching her sister and offering advice; this was Yang Xiao Long, the woman who deliberately injured an innocent boy in front of everyone on Remnant at the Vytal Tournament.

"And why should my sister take advice from _you,_ Yang Xiao Long?" she asked, her expression flipping like a switch and big sister mode activating, stepping between the two girls. "If I recall, you violently attacked an injured boy at the Vytal Festival just for being there. That hardly seems like the sort of person who can be trusted to give guidance to anyone, much less my sister." At the mention of the Tournament, Yang's eyes widened, and her left arm started to tremble. But when this Big-Weiss told her she was inept to give advice or ease others in, the shock from before was washed away instantly, and her eyes bled from lilac to crimson smoothly, rather than the normal harsh snap from one to the other it normally was. The shaking arm didn't disappear, but she managed to feel it enough to bring her hands together in a fist. Her robotic arm had no such problem.

"Yang, no." In another twist, it was her own sister that came in front of her and went up to Yang, holding her hands and staring straight into her eyes. "Winter is my sister, she means no harm. You were the same back at Beacon with Ruby, this is just that." It took a while, but eventually there was a squeeze on both of Weiss' hands as the anger bubbled down and faded away. Both girls smiled at one another, happy that the other was alright now.

"Thanks Weiss."

"Anytime." Yang glared back up at the woman, who she now remembered was called Winter after Weiss jostled her memory just then with a name drop.

"That proof enough for ya?" Ice blue eyes blinked a couple of times before a small satisfied smirk crossed her face.

"I believe it is. Very well. Thank you for bringing my sister home. It's good to know she is in safe hands once again."

"Don't thank us," Ruby replied, "thank our Uncle Qrow! He was the one who found us the ship to come here on." This time it was Winter's turn to suddenly widen her eyes in shock.

"Your… _Uncle_ Qrow?" Sure enough, glancing back up at the ramp, behind three more teenagers she recognised as Weiss' classmates, behind the other three walking down the ramp - a boy who looked far too young to be there, a heavily freckled girl and, good Gods is that boy shirtless in _Atlas?!_ \- was a tall and dark haired man with a cross on its side around his neck, a tattered red cape and a sword that could slice through anything except his own ego.

"Hey, Snow Cone," he greeted with a cheeky grin. Winter stormed past everyone, only noticing as she did so that two of the people here - the dark haired girl from Weiss' Team and the idiotic shirtless boy - were Faunus, right up to the man. "How ar-"

 ***SMACK!***

The sheer strength behind the slap left the right side of Qrow's face red from the impact. Everyone flinched at the sound of palm impacting cheek, but no one dared to try and intervene.

"Well, that certainly knocked any alcohol still in my system out," he muttered, bringing his hand up to sooth his burning cheek.

" _That_ was for leaving me on my own for months!" she shouted at the Huntsman. Everyone's eyes darted around uncomfortably at the scene unfolding before them. Well… almost everyone.

"Is it weird that I think your sister's hot too now?" Yang whispered to Weiss, eye contact not breaking from the scene in front of them. "Also, does this mean we can tell her yet?"

"No!" Weiss whispered back, the shorter woman playfully hit her secret girlfriend on the arm, not wanting to spring that surprise on Winter just yet. "Be patient." Yang smirked, but relented to the older girl's request.

"Hey, I'm sorry, alright?" the avian Huntsman offered, raising his hands apologetically,

"No, it is not alright! I spent so long wishing I knew where you were, or what had happened to you and I heard _nothing,_ you drunken oaf! I was worried I'd lo-"

"Specialist Schnee," one soldier interrupted as they approached the shouting woman, neat alabaster hair spinning to look at the soldier as Qrow's eyes widened in shock at the accusation Winter almost made on him, "perhaps it would be wise to have this conversation elsewhere?" Winter finally registered everyone else looking their way, awkwardly averting their eyes once they realised the military woman had clocked on to their presence.

Coughing slightly to give some time to readjust herself and correct her posture, Winter spoke formally to the Huntsman. "Yes. Well, welcome to Atlas. General Ironwood has requested your presence - he wishes to discuss some matters with you all." Qrow still remained shocked, not moving much even through the whole greeting.

Eventually he broke from his stupor when Ruby moved up to him. "Uncle Qrow?" Those words broke through to him somehow, but when he glanced down all he could see was red tipped hair and silver eyes. Winter's words and Ruby's look all brought back bad memories, old memories he'd thought he'd drowned under copious amounts of alcohol. Turns out, that slap really _did_ knock it all out of him.

"Enjoy your talk, kids," he managed to say before heading off in the complete opposite direction to what the soldiers intended for them.

"Where are you going?"

"To get drunk and drown the bad memories." Winter wanted to call out and talk him out of it, but he seemed really shaken by something, and she couldn't help but feel responsible for it all. Deciding against it, the Specialist turned to the main building and walked off towards it, arms folded behind her back and head staring straight at the horizon.

"Winter, what was that about?" Weiss asked as she caught up with her sister, who was taking much larger strides than normal. "Winter," she said again, frustrated at the lack of response from her sister.

"We mustn't keep the General waiting," she informed her sister, eyes never leaving the horizon, even for a quick glance, "it sounded important." The ex-Heiress huffed at the non-answer she was given, stopping to let Winter go on ahead whilst the rest of the group caught up. Weiss let out a small squeak when she felt someone's fingers interlock with hers, but relaxed when she saw it was only Yang.

"It'll be alright babe," she assured her girlfriend. "Give her time. I've never seen Qrow like that just as I'm imagining you've never seen your sister like that. Time'll explain it all."

"I hope you're right," the Atlas born girl sighed, giving Yang's hand a small squeeze before letting go to walk with the rest of the group. Both of them were annoyed at that fact, their own hands were so much warmer in the others' finger locked embrace, but Atlas was very uncompromising in a lot of senses. One such thing was their stance on homosexuality. Weiss had so much stacked against her - ex-Heiress to the Schnee Dust Company in a homosexual relationship with a commoner from Patch - that outing herself in such a manner would be social suicide, and would throw Yang's life completely asunder as well. Neither of them wanted that, so they kept everything under wraps until they could find a way to move past it and have that be a non-worry.

* * *

The meeting with General Ironwood and the rest of the group was surprising to say the least. Finding out that so much of the world as she knew it was a lie or a conspiracy shrouded in an enigma, it threw her for a loop. Most jarring of all was the little boy, who turned out not only to be Professor Ozpin reincarnated, but also was only 12 years old physically.

Eventually, the shock wore off and Winter managed to stabilize her thoughts and escorted the team to where they were being set up for their stay in Atlas to protect from this Salem threat. That was, until _another_ plot twist was thrown her way.

" _You're_ a Faunus as well?" she uttered, surprised at the young woman's confession.

"I am," Ilia replied, a new confidence in herself and her words thanks to Blake's encouragement and acceptance of her over the past few weeks. "I'm part Chameleon, so I can change colour at will. Though mostly it happens when my emotions run wild."

"I see." The Specialist gave the girl a once over; there was quite literally nothing odd about her that would scream she had Faunus genes, apart from her hair on second glance, which did actually look surprisingly like a chameleon's tail.

"You're sceptical," the young Faunus observed.

A small smirk crossed Winter's features. "I am. Forgive me, but for someone such as yourself who shows no physical Faunus attributes like Miss Belladonna or Mr Wukong here, I believe I am allowed to be slightly suspicious of your claims."

"Alright then, how about this?" Shifting her posture ever so slightly, a small indication that she was actively altering her skin tone, Ilia's usually tanned skin shifted to a far paler tone, rivalling the Schnee's themselves for the fairness of their complexion. Similarly, the girl's hair shifted to a snowy white and her eyes an icy blue. Though to ensure that it was not a carbon copy of the Schnee siblings, she let her freckles turn a much more pronounced azure blue.

"That is indeed impressive," Winter observed, her composure remaining even as her mind was trying to comprehend what was going on in front of her. The teenagers, on the other hand…

"Oh my Gods Ilia, that is _sooo cool!"_ Ruby all but squealed, hurting Blake's ears.

"It's not just 'cool', Ruby," Nora corrected. "It. Is. Awesome!"

"How many colours can you shift to?"

"Can you do me?" Nora asked again.

"Phrasing. I mean, can you shift just part of you, or is it the whole caboodle all at once? Like can you just change the eyes, or the hair on its own?" Weiss glared at her secret girlfriend for that initial response, but eased off slightly when she recovered with a genuine question.

Meanwhile, off in the distance, a figure stood over them all, staring down at the scene below.

"Identify target," Jacques' voice commanded over the intercom. The man himself was nowhere near the scene of the action, taking command of the android from back at the lab so that he was well out of harm's way. Data whizzed by Penny's retinas as all the CCT files were scanned.

* **Target: Schnee Female. 94% match.** * Penny's voice, whilst still sounding vaguely similar to her original voice, had far more of a robotic tone to it than before.

"I don't remember either of my daughters having freckles though…" he admitted out loud. A slight pause as more data processed, factoring the new variable.

* **86% match.** *

"Close enough. Penny: engage target."

* **Order: confirmed.** *

"Wait… did you guys hear something?" Everyone stopped talking the second Jaune pointed out that anomalous sound. All ears were trained outwards, listening in for anything that sounded suspicious. Blake, naturally, hear something first, but her voice couldn't call out to dodge before whatever it was flew down and crashed straight into Ilia, knocking her Aura down to nearly 0 in a single strike and throwing her out of the protective circle everyone had made, her scream punctuating it all.

"Ilia!" Blake called out as her own girlfriend was thrown around. She went to stop the assailant from pummelling her Partner, but her legs stopped the second she spotted the familiar colour scheme of grey and green, accented with ginger hair.

"Penny?" Ruby whispered out in shock, seeing her friend alive and functional once more. The android turned to look at the team, Ilia beaten and bloody on the floor after three massive hits that broke her Aura.

"Miss Rose, I believe. A pleasure to finally see you." Both Schnee siblings glared at the robot girl on hearing that voice.

"What have you done you monster?"

* **New target confirmed as Winter Schnee. 100% match.** *

"Well then, looks like you won't be needed that anymore. Penny discard the imposter." The robot unceremoniously threw the broken Ilia back to the feet of the team, bringing shocked gasps from a few of them as her skin, eyes and hair all faded back to its natural tan, grey and deep autumn brown colours as she impacted the ground and slipped out of consciousness.

"Ilia!" Blake cried again, running to her side. "Ilia, be alright. Please be alright. Jaune! Jaune, help her."

"Right." Sheathing his sword, the blond knight began working on channelling his own Aura into healing the Faunus on the floor, Blake's hands never letting go of hers even as tears streamed down her face.

"Penny, why would you do that?!" Ruby questioned in terror.

"That's not Penny," Winter mentioned, a twinge of fear in her voice, "that's not her voice. It's not her, it's my father."

"Good to see you still recognise me as your superior, Winter," the voice

"You are only superior in one thing, _father,_ and that is manipulation. I know why you've done this; tricking these children into not fighting back by making this thing in the image of 'Project: Polendina'. You truly are sick."

"Oh, I don't need Penny's help in getting them to not fight back. That's what these are for." On cue, eight faceless robots jumped from the surrounding buildings onto the concrete below, cracking the pavement and moving in immediately on the heroes, Ruby calling out to surround Blake and Jaune to keep them safe and to buy them as much time to save Ilia as possible. With them there, Winter was left on her own to face down Penny. Well, what used to be the shell of Penny. Now, it's just another faceless robot standing in her way.

"You're evil."

Jacques didn't even dignify the comment with a response, simply giving Penny an order. "Penny, eliminate Winter Schnee. Protocol 2."

* **Mission: Eliminate Winter Schnee. Protocol Activated, Parameters Recognised: Lethal Force Prohibited. Power Drain Capabilities Recharging - 10%.** *

"Wait, what do you mean it's recharging?"

* **Status: Combat Ready. Engaging combat with target.** *

"No, not yet! Disengage!" But Penny had already shot off the ground towards Winter before Jacques comment could be taken back, two of her blades appearing from her backpack as her thrusters engaged to tackle the Specialist. Winter countered with her own dash forward, the pair clashing in the middle, but with Winter easily overpowering the metallic girl and knocking her away with an Aura enhanced swing of her saber. "Oh, son of a Mistrali whore," Jacques cursed as the view on the screen shook from the impact.

Crescent Rose seldom remained untinkered with for long stretches of time. When Ruby managed to knock herself out cold when she first used the Silver Eyes atop Beacon Tower, she couldn't do anything. Nor could she do much when the newly christened Team RNJR made their trek across Remnant to reach Mistral from Patch. She did always insist that the group spent some extra time in the towns and villages they came across that would allow them to use their blacksmiths because, and I quote, "my baby needs as much love and attention as she can get, else she won't behave when I need her to." Ren finally managed to deduce that it meant, "if I don't take my weapon for a check-up regularly, it would either jam or break when we need it the most." With all the complex moving parts in it, there was no arguing with that fact.

But when tinkering didn't need doing, and even if it did, Ruby would always spend time grinding a nice sharp edge on the blade. And it showed. She could slice through trees like nothing with a solid enough swing, and most Grimm could be carved up like a turkey when she opted for a close quarter kill.

And now that she was up against these rudimentary Atlas robots, it was like she was swinging the scyther rifle through the air at nothing, not even slowing down as it split the machines in two.

"Penny! Please, stop trying to beat up Weiss' sister," she pleaded with the girl she once considered a friend as she decapitated one of the robots attacking her with ease. "We're your friends. Please, listen to us!"

"Your effort is indeed admirable, child," Jacques observed from the cameras installed into Penny to give him a view of the battle around him. "But this new and improved Penny has had all traces of her personality removed, and now only responds directly to my commands. Observe. Penny, fire at the downed girl."

 ***Ay sir.*** One of her swords was flung at Ilia within the second of the order being received, her aim artificially precise. Fortunately, a Glyph from Weiss materialised, and the blade impacted against it harmlessly a foot or so away from the downed girl, all while the other Schnee continued attacking the robot. As one kick landed, it let out a small robotic ***ouch*** , odd coming from what was once a bubbly and cheery girl with a great personality.

Winter's strikes on Penny were relentless. Sure, Penny had originally been created to become the new Fall Maiden so that there was a strong bodied and innocent and pure minded person in charge of such power, but Winter was a fully trained Huntress with years in the field, and Atlas Military Training to boot. The original Penny had been programmed to best highly trained Huntsmen with a scaling power metre; the longer she fought, the more adept she became at countering that particular opponent, learning their moves as the battle continued.

Having already known this fact, Winter did not hold back at all; the quicker the fight was finished the higher her chances of winning were. Winter went for another swipe at Penny's chest area, her right hand making a backhanded swing at the girl. Naturally, Penny's automatic dodging and adapting sub-routines had started initialising and coming into effect, but it wasn't present for all of Winter's moves just yet. So, after the swing was blocked, Winter hopped and brought her left foot around, her stylish yet practical military boots crashing into the side of Penny's head with enough force to send her flying once again.

"Penny, what are you, in safe mode?"

Winter landed and summoned Glyphs around her. "Cover me!" she called out to the rest of the children around her as she sent a couple of mini Nevermores to crash into Penny to stall her. Yang and Ren, having dealt with their respective robots each, jumped in immediately. Ren fired StormFlower at Penny to keep her occupied whilst Yang dashed in with her prosthetic arm cocked back and ready.

"Oh, that's not good," the moustachioed businessman accurately observed, hitting multiple buttons on the console in front of him. "Penny, respond. Immediately!" Sadly, Penny's processor had been damaged by Winter's last attack to the head, so her 'immediate responses' weren't up to par and Yang's fist collided squarely with the robot girl's face, resulting in a sizeable explosion on impact.

 **~0~0~0~~0~0~0~**

"The hell was that?" the bartender gasped as bottles and glasses rattled around them. The shockwave of Yang's punch against Penny, despite the fact they didn't know that's what it was, could be felt even a mile away in the bar Qrow managed to make his way to after parting from the group.

"Earthquake, perhaps?" he drunkenly chuckled out, flicking some residual whiskey off of his finger that had spilled over when the room shook.

"Atlas doesn't _get_ earthquakes," he bit back, glaring at the patron. Qrow shrugged nonchalantly as the man turned on the screen above the bar.

* _...ports of a fight happening in Atlas Main Square. A legion of Atlas Machines led by a teenage girl are fighting off against a group of what appears to be Huntsmen and Huntresses.*_ That caught Qrow's attention. _*Among them appears to be both Weiss and Winter Schnee, daughters of the President of the Schnee Dust Company, along with a couple of Faunus as well, yet neither seem affected by that fact. We'll see…*_ Qrow wished he could tune out the broadcast manually, but the second Winter's name was said, as well as the fact that it appeared that they were fighting Penny despite her dismantlement back at Beacon, had Qrow throwing his Lien on the counter and making a break for the door, fighting against the splitting headache of the alcohol in his system.

 **~0~0~0~~0~0~0~**

"What are you _doing?!"_ Jacques now cried in disbelief as the android pulled itself out from the destroyed building front it went sent careening into after the punch. "Why aren't you re-engaging quicker?!" Yang was now occupied with three more faceless robots on account of her being physically the strongest person here now that she had taken a few hits and her semblance was flowing through her and amping everything up, and Ren was back on guard duty for Ilia and Jaune, the former of which looked far less broken than before.

Which just left the primary threat of Winter, who at this point had a fast spinning Glyph behind her, poised and ready to take the fight to Penny and deliver the final blow on the mechanical girl.

"Penny, re-engage with Winter Schnee this instant before I come over there and shove my boot up your ass!"

 ***Power Drain Capabilities Fully Recharged***

Winter shot forward like a bullet from a gun. Her saber was raised with the intent of piercing Penny's body through the heart, shutting down her power supply and bringing her and her father's scheme against her to a grinding halt. But as the finely polished silver sword went to slice against the deep grey, synthetic skin covered reinforced alloy, Penny's hand shot up and intercepted it.

 ***All Systems Online. Protocol 2 Initiated: Commencing Aura Drain.***

"Oh. Bully," Jacques uttered, a satisfied smile on his face. Penny's other arm shot forward, two swords appearing from her back and wrapping their coils around Winter's rear arm. The Specialist struggled against them, but Penny was made to be as strong as possible, so her struggles were for nought. Once she was within grasping range, Penny grabbed onto Winter's arm properly, her vice like grip not breaking at all despite the best efforts on the Schnee's part. It was then that tiny barbs appeared in her hand, stabbing themselves into Winter's arm. Her cry brought the young Huntsmen in Training to a standstill. Sadly, the robots they were fighting against didn't have any emotions to react with, so continued their assault and got a couple of good hit in on one or two of them.

Winter's body began to glow with an icy blue light, her Aura forcefully being activated to glow at the surface as the barbs drained her of her Aura. The effect was immediate; her breaths became shallow and her body started sweating bullets, all while her Aura was taken with surprising speed and ferociousness.

"That's it, Penny!" her father cheered through the speakers in Penny's new frame, "drain her until she is nothing but a shrivelled up prune of a corpse." Weiss was doing her best to fight off the robots with the additional anger she felt on seeing her sister as she was, but the bots were not giving her any leeway at all. Winter's scream was the last thing she heard before there was a shattering sound of her Aura breaking, Penny having taken all of Winter's Aura.

"No! Winter!" She sliced through the three sentient machines in front of her, finishing them off before trying to aid her sister, but a sound stopped her in her tracks.

"Mine mine mine mine mine…"

"Anyone else hear that?" Sun asked.

"…MINE MINE MINE MINE MINE…"

"Yeah," Yang mentioned, her final robot cleanly punched through and falling off her gauntlet, "and it's getting closer."

"…MINEMINEMINEMINEMINE!"

Weiss clocked on why it sounded so familiar and sighed. "And it sounds an awful lot like-"

Penny suddenly found herself flying backwards, letting out an unfazed ***ouch*** as she did.

Qrow stood staring out at where the girl had fallen, glaring at the machine who attacked Winter. "Mine."

"And the drunken oaf returns."

"Weiss!" Ruby screeched in disbelief.

' _So_ _ **that's**_ _what it feels like,_ ' the ex-Heiress thought to herself.

"Why did you say that?!"

"I wanted to help my sister, and I was on my way to do that. But now _he's_ here."

"He saved her life!"

"Yeah, well-"

"Ruby," the man said, silencing his niece with just her name, "your partner's got every right to be mad at me. But that's for later." The red reaper raised an eyebrow at how her uncle sounded. There was no slurring, nor was there the slight swaying she was used to when seeing him. He almost seemed… completely sober. * _hic_ * Almost.

"Hey… Qrow…"

"What happened Winter?"

"Penny… drained Aura… dying… little help?"

He chuckled slightly, obliging her request and scooping her up in a bridal carry. "Easy there Snow Cone. I gotcha." She felt cold against him, and for once that wasn't because of her naturally colder-than-average body temperature; she felt _cold_. "Yang, get Winter away from here. She was taking you to your lodgings whilst we're here, go there. Get some medication in her as soon as possible, with her Aura completely gone it seemed like she was actually starting to take the rest of her too."

"Right." She took the Specialist from her uncle and started heading off. "C'mon Winter, we'll get you there and give you something to bring you back."

"Let me go Yang," Ruby offered.

"Rubes, that's-"

"Let's face it Yang, I'm the fastest one here by a long shot. If we wanted Weiss' big sister to be safe, then we need meds in here as soon as possible."

"I'm with Ruby on this one Yang," Nora agreed, with Ren nodding behind her. With a soft sigh, she relented and handed Winter off to her baby sister, who seemingly immediately regretted that decision as her eyes bulged as a fully grown woman was dropped into her arms almost unceremoniously. She lugged around Crescent Rose, so carrying this sort of weight was no big deal. It was just the way Winter was dropped into her arms.

"Let's go Winter. You'll be better in no time." With a brief final glance at Penny then an intake of breath, Ruby was off in a flurry of rose petals.

"You lot, you go too. This one's mine to face alone." Finally turning to see the rest of them, he saw the Chameleon girl moving about a bit more, the scrawny kid's semblance working wonders on her. "If you want to do something useful Yang, carry the little cat's girlfriend to the same place Ruby's going. Her recovery should be kept up through the journey, and we don't want to keep her here."

"Yeah. Yeah, I can do that."

"Knew you could, Firecracker." The sound of scraping metal brought Qrow's attention back to Penny, who had now lost a little part of her synthetic skin on her face, exposing the metal endoskeleton underneath. "Now go." Everyone took off on command, except Weiss. She lingered for a fraction longer before joining the rest of them.

 ***Primary Threat - Escaping. Three hundred metres. Five hundred metres.***

"Hey, tin can. Your 'primary threat' is right here."

 ***Nine hundred metres. Target stopped nine hundred and seventeen metres away north west of current position.***

"Am I being ignored?"

"On the contrary, dear Huntsman. Penny only responds to my command. Penny, forget about Winter, she's as good as ours once we find her again. For now, focus on the man in front of you."

Crimson eyes narrowed. "I know that voice…"

"Wait… who are you again?"

 ***Scanning.*** Penny's retinas began flashing again. ***Qrow Branwen. Professional Huntsman. Personal Aide of Ozpin.***

"Oh, of course. How could I forget? The Headmaster's errand boy."

"How're you doing, Iceberg?" he joked at the Schnee, knowing full well nicknames - particularly bad ones - _really_ got under his skin.

Jacques glared at the man through his screen. "Penny, take care of him. Protocol 0."

The android stood bolt upright as the new protocol booted up in her system. Her irises turned ghostly white as her internal system changed. Once it was done, she dropped down to a fighting posture and her eyes shifted to a deep blood red.

"I'm not sure whether to be flattered or insulted by the colour change, but lemme tell ya, it ain't a good look on ya, kid."

Penny's voice had changed, even more than the still-slightly-feminine robotic voice she had a few minutes prior. Now, it sounded completely mechanical, with no personality or life in it at all. **_*Mission: Eliminate Qrow Branwen. Protocol Activated, Parameters Recognised: Lethal Force Encouraged.*_**

"Psh, sure," he scoffed, stuffing his hands in his pocket and started staring at the android intensely.

 ** _*Status: Combat Ready. Engaging combat with target.*_** Penny dashed forward, using her jetpack to her full advantage to close the gap near instantaneously. Being a professional as opposed to simply a trainee, Qrow casually sidestepped out of the way of the fast moving girl, letting her fly into the wall behind him. But unlike a person, who may not have had the time to realise that there was a wall coming up, to spin around so that their feet were facing it, land on it and push back off for a second assault, Penny was a machine with a processor that worked at the same rate as a human brain, with reaction times matching and surpassing the best that Atlas had to offer.

That was one flaw Penny had: the best _Atlas_ had to offer. And no doubt, the Specialist program would have been picked for that. Now Qrow didn't like to brag (much), but he had faced against Winter Schnee many times in the past. He was faster than her in a lot of ways. And he wasn't from Atlas.

Penny spun around mid-air and kicked off the wall, but Qrow was already moving again to dodge the rebound strike from her. This time though, he countered with his own attack. Harbinger was unclipped from the avian fighter's back, and with a simple swing he brought the sword blade up and sliced the threads connecting three of her swords whilst also cleaving off one of Penny's outstretched arms. The robot landed ready to attack, but it turned to survey its lack of appendage with mechanical curiosity. Qrow planted the blade of his weapon into the ground, taking a decent crack out of the floor.

"Oops. My hand slipped."

"No!" he cried to himself. Catching his outburst before it spiralled further, he openly reassured himself. "No, everything will turn out fine so long as Penny can grab a hold of Qrow and take his Aura."

"Y'know I'm right here and can hear you, right? Just thought I'd let you know - I know how hard it is for you elders to work technology." Jacques' rage returned with a vengeance and he started cursing the man on the screen in front of Penny, inputting commands faster than even her processor could handle. But he wanted this job done and done now, so he wasn't holding her back any more.

Neither was Qrow.

Opting to make Penny run at him rather than fly, the robot took off in a mighty sprint towards the Huntsman. Smirking at the display, Qrow yanked his sword out of the ground and flipped a switch as he jumped back a few feet. The gears on the inside of his weapon started to spin, working the mechanisms inside to transform Harbinger into its truest, most terrifying form to face down against. Penny's steps were fast, and they were precise.

Which is exactly why, when Penny reached where Qrow's sword once was, her left foot got stuck in the newly formed crack in the ground, causing her to trip and stumble, losing momentum rapidly as the machine tried to centre itself again before crashing into the ground. And with that stroke of bad luck for the robot, Qrow capitalised on it, diving forward just as Penny finally tripped over her own feet and Harbinger finished its transformation into a scythe and arching his swing upwards, slicing the girl clean in two, her upper half crashing head first into the ground before tumbling a few times and coming to a stop, a small amount of murky lubricant seeping out of the ripped chest of what once was Penny.

"I'm sorry I had to do that, kid," he spoke to Penny as if she were alive despite the dimmer coloured pupils that signified that she was dead, "but you're dangerous in the wrong hands. And I can only think of one person worse to have you under their thumbs than what you've just been through." Qrow's tone shifted after he'd finished with the robot, staring right at Penny's eyes, knowing that's most likely where the cameras were hidden. "Listen to me, Schnee. You've messed with my family now, and there's hell to pay when you mess with my family."

"Quite the spectacle you put on there, Mr. Branwen," Jacques observed, albeit reluctantly. "And an equally moving speech. To think, such wise words coming from the man who has spent so many years of his life drunk, being sober is more of a rare occasion than Vytal Tournament."

"Ooh, scathing," he deadpanned. "What, d'you come up with that one yourself? Or was that the think tank talking?" Qrow tapped his chest, feeling the sensation of metal clanging against his ring to tell him the flask was still there.

Still safe.

"Some of us have a lot of demons to face, and so we'd much rather drown the demons for as long as we can until they're gone."

"You and Willow would get along splendidly then," he jabbed at the Huntsman.

"Ever considered why your wife drinks her days away, Iceberg? Why there are more bottles of wine finished every month than there are staff in your house for that month?" He didn't wait for an answer, simply opting to stand up and stomp on Penny's head, crushing the cameras inside.

* * *

Trying to wake up was horrendous. It was almost as if Lancers were trying to stick their barbs into her and pull her apart limb from limb.

… why must she think those things? Those sorts of images are what people get shown in their nightmares.

Regardless of the gruesome metaphor her brain decided to choose as a comparison to how she was currently feeling, she needed to get up. Groaning from the strain of her body fighting against any type of movement she tried to do, a hand landed on her shoulder and gently applied pressure.

That wouldn't have been too bad, except for the fact that this hand simply applying pressure down won out over her own body forcing itself up. It made her feel weak.

"You're not weak Winter," the person said.

' _Did I say that last bit out loud?_ ' she thought to herself, cheeks dusting red from embarrassment.

"Ruby's right, Winter," came another, far more familiar voice, "you had your entire Aura drained from you, and then even some of your actual energy. Penny was going to kill you, or get you as close to death as our father would have wanted."

Opening her eyes to look out at the voices that were speaking to her, she noticed how it wasn't just Ruby and her sister, but seemingly the entire group of people she was meant to be escorting and protecting now protecting her in this one room.

"Then… how did I escape? You were… occupied by-"

"Uncle Qrow came and saved you," Ruby mentioned, a small smile on her face that was clearly restrained. With good reason; last time Qrow was mentioned in front of Winter, she slapped him, and he wandered off looking far more emotionally hurt than physically hurt. "He kicked Penny away from you, then told me to run here and get some medicine in you."

"You've had some Aura Replenishments injected in to help bring you back a little quicker, but the fact Penny was actually draining your energy after your Aura broke may mean many things, very few of them good." Weiss' gaze drifted away from her sister the further into that sentence she got, clearly saddened by the news that she wasn't sharing with her sister right now.

"Do you know wha-"

"Hey, none of that," a gruff voice interrupted from the doorway. Winter smiled at the sight of Qrow, not a scratch on him.

"How'd you get on?" his eldest niece asked. "Is she…?"

The avian Huntsman sighed. "That thing wasn't and isn't Penny. I know it looked like her, but it wasn't _her._ I don't want to make things harder on you, but it's better if we saw it as the same faceless drone you were facing." He crossed the room to Winter's bedside, kneeling down beside her. "Focus on the fact we won. And that I have a great idea to infuriate daddy dearest even further."

"Is that wise, Mr. Branwen?" came Ren's ever cautious remark from the far side of the room.

"I agree with Mr. Lie here, Qrow," Ozpin added via the medium of Oscar, "angering Jacques Schnee would not be our wisest move, especially with what is at stake here."

Qrow donned a small smirk. "For once Oz, can I have this one. It's so rare I get to do these things, and it'll save us a lotta work too, with him out of the picture."

"If you believe this is the best course of action," the Wizard relented with very little enthusiasm, "then I shan't stop you from doing as you wish. Just, please refrain from bringing the ramifications with you when we move on from Atlas."

"Understood Oz. Now, which one of you can work a Scroll camera the best?"

 **~0~0~0~~0~0~0~**

"You told me that this would be unbeatable!"

"I said that, yes. But science is never a certain subject. There are factors a doctor such as myself may miss."

"Well, you certainly didn't account for a mighty big factor, Rota! Winter appears to still be alive, and now Penny is destroyed for the second time as well!"

"Many things can happen, Jacques," the pig offered, "there may be another chance for something in the-" His words of encouragement were cut off when the Schnee's Scroll began to ring. "I don't wish to interrupt your business, Jacques. I will be back in my lab, trying another one of your ridiculous schemes."

"Fine," he spat back, "but don't think for a moment I'm through with you." Doctor Rota turned heel and made his way back through the door to his laboratory, leaving the angered Company President to seethe on his own. Grabbing his Scroll off the desk, he was certainly surprised to see Weiss' name appear.

"Weiss, I hope you realise what you've-"

* _Hey, Iceberg~_ *

"Branwen?!" Jacques nearly choked upon hearing the voice over the Scroll. His fears were further confirmed when the screen was activated and a smug looking Qrow was staring back at him. "Return my daughter's Scroll to her at once, or I swear with every fibre of my body, I will make you pay for what you've just put me through!"

* _What? Saving your daughter's life after you tried to_ _ **kill her?**_ _And for what?_ *

"I do not tolerate failure in this family, and both of my daughters disappoint me in ways I cannot describe. Ridding myself of these problems is the only way to restore some form of control over my life. A life _they_ have done nothing but ruin ever since they started stepping out of line."

* _Well, you must forgive me,_ _ **father**_ _,_ * came Weiss' collected yet underlyingly frustrated reply, * _because this is going to infuriate you even more._ * Without giving anyone time to ask what was going through the young woman's mind, Weiss reached out and grabbed Yang by the collar of her top, dragging her in and planting a very forceful, but underline loving kiss that grew with passion the longer their lips were locked.

"What is the meaning of this?!" the moustachioed man screamed.

Finally breaking for some much needed oxygen, Weiss gazed at Yang with love in her icy blue orbs, pools of amethyst staring back feeling much of the same, then turned to her father smirking, any love in her eyes gone before the turn was even complete. _*That, dear father, is how I choose to tell you that I am in a homosexual relationship with my teammate and girlfriend of nearly a month, Yang Xiao Long. Yang, say hi to dad.*_

 _*Hey there. I'd want to meet you in person, but honestly, even_ _ **this**_ _is too much you for a lifetime. I don't know how your kids put up with you for so long.*_

 _*Trust me,*_ the fencer admitted with a grimace, _*it was neither an easy nor a pleasant experience.*_

"I outright refuse to have my daughter of all people becoming a delinquent, especially with such a balloon chested harlot such as _her._ "

 _*Hey! This 'balloon chested harlot' has made your daughter happier in the time we've been together as teammates and as girlfriends than you ever did, thank you.*_ Her eyes flitted to red as she stared him down, seeing the man flinch even though he couldn't be touched through Scroll screen. _*So watch your tongue.*_

"You don't understand the half of what I could do to you and your family, do you? I could wipe you all off the face of Remnant and no one would bat an eyelid!" The man glanced at the other fair haired occupant of the room on the other side of the Scroll camera. "Winter! Do something about your sister's asinine mentality!"

 _*As you wish.*_

 _*What are you do-*_ Qrow's protest was halted by an off camera finger to the lips.

 _*Weiss, you should know better than this.*_ Jacques smiled at the turn of events playing out in front of him. _*Declaring your love for someone, particularly someone of the unorthodox kind, but especially someone of the same gender. Kissing them in front of father.*_ The more Winter said, the more Weiss shrunk back into herself, and the more Yang looked like she was ready to punch Winter through the wall. _*Had you learnt nothing from our youth?*_

 _*But Winter, I-*_

 _*No 'buts', young lady. Do you not remember the rules: the eldest child always goes first.*_ That comment raised a couple of eyebrows from almost everyone in the room, Qrow being the exception who instead cracked a cheeky grin. _*I guess I'll just have to make up for lost time.*_ With that, Winter then pulled Qrow into a kiss, one of less ferocity than her sister's.

"WINTER!"

 _*Oh, I'm sorry father. Did I do something wrong?*_

"You are kissing that man beside you, OF COURSE YOU DID SOMETHING WRONG!" His face was almost starting to glow with how much blood was rushing into it, it slightly worried the Specialist to see. By this point, there were a few of Doctor Rota's fellow scientists staring through the lab window at the man in white screaming at his Scroll in pure unbridled rage. "You will both immediately stop these foolish pursuits, and you will return home this instant!"

 _*Sorry, but I think I speak for myself and my older sister when I say, 'I don't want to do that'. We are both happy with who we are, and we don't need anyone telling us otherwise. Especially you.*_

"Don't you be insubordinate with me, Weiss. I am your father, and you will do as I say!"

Qrow's smile at having given Jacques a huge metaphorical middle finger dissipated with each and every word the self-righteous businessman spoke. _*I'm sorry Iceberg, mind repeating that? Your moustache was getting in the way of your waffling.*_

"I wasn't talking to you, you drunken fool. I told them very simply: I. Am. Your. Father! And you _will_ do what I sa-"

 **~0~0~0~~0~0~0~**

"Qrow Branwen," Weiss said as the man started leaning back from turning the Scroll off from the businessman.

"Yes?" Weiss' anger was vastly misplaced, and she realised that the moment she said something. With a confused couple of blinks, she shook her head. "Sorry, I guess I was acting on impulse. I don't actually have anything to say."

"No harm done then, Snowflake."

"That's alright. But on a different note-" Weiss spun around and grabbed Yang's collar again, only she intended to do no kissing of any kind this time. "Your uncle is dating my sister?!"

"Uh… huh?" the blonde muttered out.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because it's hilarious," she chuckled out. Her uncle wasn't as amused.

"You just learnt about it."

"And it… is hilarious."

"I'm glad everyone's okay," Ruby mentioned, finally resting her arms after holding the Scroll up for them all, "but Weiss' dad is still going to be mad at everyone. And we don't know how to get to him and stop him."

"Actually," the crimson eyed Huntsman offered with a grin, "I might have an idea about that."

 **~0~0~0~~0~0~0~**

As the portal closed, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Winter was in a wheelchair on a temporary basis just so her body could put all its effort into healing her. Ilia was all but completely healed, but wanted to stay in bed for a little while longer after Blake had told her what was going on in the next room.

"So, you knew then?"

"Of course I knew."

"And you knew…"

"Because Blake knew."

"Of course she did." The blonde took a look at her partner. "And how did _you_ find out?"

"Besides these things?" she asked innocently, wiggling her cat ears around. Yang facepalmed at the fact that she forgot her partner could hear so much more than everybody else in their friendship group. "Well, about a week ago, I believe it was last _Thursday_ ," the cheekiness behind the way she said that day made it abundantly clear that she knew she was on the money with that, not even factoring in the strong blush taking over their faces, "you two were being _awfully_ l-"

"OPEN!" Ruby shouted to avoid anything bad happening to them. "You were being awfully open with one another in the living room. It'd be hard for us _not_ to notice the way you were eying each other up and giving each other lovey dovey looks."

"Oh, something was _definitely_ open last Thursday~," Blake teased.

"I swear, if you utter one more word, Belladonna," came the verbal threat from Weiss, with an unspoken one coming from Yang in the form of a crimson eyed glare.

As the students all bickered and laughed by the bed, the two adults of the room were stood near the back, observing. "Aren't you going to reprimand your sister for the blatant sexual talk in front of you?" Qrow whispered, arm wrapped around his girlfriend's shoulder now that their relationship was a little more open.

"It would be unwise and a tad hypocritical to do such, wouldn't you think? Considering what _we_ always do."

"Yeah, but ours are far more coded. That's just one step away from outright saying it."

"Yes, well," she started, wrapping her arm around his middle, "they are children. They have yet to learn the ins and outs of a true Huntsman relationship." Qrow could have said something else, but elected to simply snuggle up to his partner a little closer, happy he didn't have to hide much anymore.

* * *

With his frosty personality and want for complete control, it was no surprise that Jacques Schnee had the largest bedroom in the entire Schnee Mansion.

The deep blue walls of the room barely let any light bounce back, shrouding the room in a darkness that unnerved most who entered. Jacques and the staff aside, of course, as they had entered the room thousands of times since being here. The carpet that decorated the floor muffled a lot of sound as well, a far cry from the rugs or exposed tiles elsewhere in the gigantic house.

The muffled sound and the darkened room really made the room uncomfortable to be in. And then to top it all off, much like his office down on the first floor, the room was kept close to unbearable temperature wise.

Even with all of those factors, Jacques was fast asleep. He was angry, sure, but he was willing to let the anger simmer whilst he slept, then act upon it tomorrow.

That was the plan, until an aethereal tear ripped through the silence of the room and a red portal appeared at the foot of the bed. Jacques was up like a light switch, staring at the crimson mass of energy that had appeared before him.

"Jacques Schnee," came an ominous voice from within the cloud, "you seem to have angered someone very high up. This cannot be allowed to stand."

"Wh-what are you talking about," he stuttered out, "I _am_ high up. In fact, I am at the top! I own the Schnee Dust Company, most companies come under the SDC Banner!"

"Not this person," she said, tone flat as she pulled her sword out of its sheath.

"What did this person pay you?" he panicked as they drew closer, the confidence he normally exudes gone now that he was at his most vulnerable. "I can double it. Triple, even. Just name their price."

"They did not pay me anything. In exchange for their loyalty, this was a favour for them." The aggressor moved their blade slightly, the metal ringing with a sickening sound that made the man's blood run cold.

The man brought his hands up in front of his face. "Please, I beg of you."

"Begging?" they answered in disbelief. His gaze elsewhere, the woman thrust a hand forward, ice growing outwards from his core to the extremities of his body, head still exposed to the open air to prevent death. "It's a pity the person didn't want you dead, that would have been a great story to tell. 'Jacques Schnee, begging for his life as he died'. No, I am simply passing on a message from a gentleman who overheard what was said earlier today. He said he heard you threatening the lives of everyone in the room when you made a Scroll call this afternoon."

"The call was an incoming one, I did not call them-" The sword levelled itself right at the Schnee's exposed and undefendable neck.

"Did I say you could speak?" Sweat dripping off him now, Jacques silently shook his head. "The man managed to contact me and offer a favour in exchange for me doing this." The mask wearing woman leaned in close, but not too close - her eyes were still visible behind the mask if you were brave enough to stare it down. "He told me to tell you to leave those girls and boys alone. If some of them were your daughters as you mentioned, then let them live their lives how they wish. They are not your pawns. As for the rest of them, they will be safe from you as well. Is that understood?" The man nodded, wishing for this whole thing to be over. "Good." She slashed at the air, opening a portal back to where she came. "Oh, and if I hear that you have broken your promise, and that any of them had been hurt by your hands, I will return here, and I will kill you myself." She wasted no more time, stepping through the swirling mass and disappearing from sight.

"Wait, what about the ice?!" he called, only for the coldness of the room and the emptiness of it all to swallow the words instead.

 **~0~0~0~~0~0~0~**

"Thank you, Raven," Winter mentioned as she removed her mask to reveal the tell-tale scowl of the Branwen Tribe Leader, "we couldn't have done that convincingly without you."

"So I see," she muttered back, not fazed by their genuine gratitude. "Just don't expect me to ever come back here again, this place unnerves me."

"We're sorry it had to be the long way as well; that was a limiting factor on both our parts, I believe." Both Winter and Qrow had to sneak their way into the Schnee Manor without alerting anyone and getting as close to Jacques' bedroom as possible without being inside his room. It meant that Raven could portal in, then go to Jacques' room, intimidate and state claims, then disappear for the night.

"As much as I would love to discuss the minutiae of the plan that has now _been completed,_ " she emphasised, much to the annoyance of her younger brother, "there's the question of payment."

"Dust, rations and some Lien, all of which will be ready for you in 24hrs back at our lodgings for you to take. I will not try and underpay you, but you are welcome to check when you are there." The ravenette nodded, them slashed the air to open a portal back to her daughter.

"I will ask for more if they are not there." The couple made their way through, walking out back into their safehouse, Yang standing guard in her pyjamas.

"Everything all good?" she inquired.

"Yeah, everything's peachy, Firecracker."

"Sweet, I'mma sleep now. Night Uncle Qrow, good night Winter," The Specialist was taken aback by the sleepy farewell from the blonde.

"Hey, Snow Cone, you alright? You're looking paler than usual-"

"I've… not had someone wish me a good night before."

"Really?"

"Not so readily, at least. Weiss used to do it after some coaxing, but that habit died once I joined the Military. It's… a pleasant feeling knowing that my sister is dating your niece. We both know one party in that relationship, and meeting the parents would be far less awkward because one most definitely knows the other. Well, they know the honorary uncle well. To my knowledge, he has never met the girls' father."

"Let's keep it that way." They both smiled as their final mission for the day was complete, and they made their way to their rooms to sleep.

"Not coming over, Branwen?" the Specialist teased. Qrow _was_ going to mention how they need sleep, not anything else, but that excuse was knocked down with the scythe wielding saw Winter leaning against the door frame with her hair cascading down her back like an oil painting come to life. "We don't have to hide what we are anymore."

"Is that right?"

"We can do whatever we want, whenever we want to do it. Missions permitting, of course."

"Well, when you put it like that." The birdman smirked, making his way over and pushing Winter in with a kiss, locking the door behind them.

* * *

First proper day off in nearly a month + DBZ Abridged being back soon with Episode 60 + a backburner idea that I had been waiting to write for over 5 months = TA DAH!

Had a bunch of fun writing this one, and with all the TFS references in here too, it's a good day for this fic.

We'll be back with your regular scheduled **Senseless** on Thursday, and **Kenjutsu** has just gone up as well, so we're back on track with that too.

As always, feedback - good or bad - is most appreciated

Until next time,  
 **FeugoFox42 :)**


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